Bettman Shrugs Off Retirement Talk, Hints at Succession Plan

Gary Bettman is batting away retirement chatter, but he is also acknowledging that succession planning is at least on the table. That is the kind of league-office news that gets owners, partners, and commissioners’ trailers all paying attention even when the public version sounds breezy. When the longest-tenured power broker in the sport starts talking about the future, the whole operation leans in.